Whither Tango?

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Andrei Alexandrescu" <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote in message 
news:hlnl2t$1oif$1 at digitalmars.com...
> Justin Johansson wrote:
>> Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>>>
>>> Dictionary.com Unabridged, Based on the Random House Dictionary:
>>>
>>> retro-
>>>
>>> a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin meaning “backward” 
>>> (retrogress); on this model, used in the formation of compound words 
>>> (retrorocket).
>>>
>>> So can we stop this "retro is a bad name" nonsense now?
>>
>> Sure, just include a copy of, or link to, an English dictionary
>> alongside D documentation, together with appropriate annotations.
>
> My understanding is that he included it to clarify that it's an 
> appropriate word, not to explain a rare word such as "nefandous".
>

Right, that's what I meant. Use a word starting with "retro-" when talking 
to a english-speaking person, and even if they're uneducated, they'll most 
likely have a good idea what is meant by that prefix.

And as far as being latin: In english, even people (like me) who have gone 
nowhere near a latin class or even some "learn latin in 10 easy steps" book 
in their life are still generally familiar with not only the retro- prefix, 
but a whole bunch of other latin-derived things as well (like bi-, tri-, 
feline, etc.). Heck most english speakers don't even know that stuff is 
latin, they just think assume its english. And that's even despite the fact 
that there's other languages that are even far more latin-influenced then 
english is. Latin, as itself, may be a dead language, but a lot of it still 
exists in many modern languages.